Multicloud data control is emerging as a serious and mainstream initiative for IT and business leaders alike. IDC research indicates that 60% of organizations have either completed or started digital transformation (DX) initiatives. The objective of these initiatives is to move the organization toward being data driven, whereby the advanced use of data management and analytics helps the company derive a competitive advantage. Yet data sprawl — that is, data stored in different locations and in different formats and derived from different applications — makes the aggregation and correlation of data across the enterprise challenging. If organizations cannot aggregate this data so that it can be analyzed meaningfully, then the organization cannot utilize it fully.

Data stored and managed in this manner results in data silos that increase data management complexity. Silos initiate unnecessary human effort and redundant management products useful for only that siloed environment. They also introduce additional risk of data loss with additional malware vulnerabilities and more challenging DR. The bottom line is reduced data visibility and loss of data control. IT leaders are now recognizing the need for, and challenges of, multicloud data control.

Several factors are emerging, which combined make multicloud data control a particular challenge:

The first factor is accelerating data growth. Previous estimates for data growth have been in the range of 30–35% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), whereas the results from this survey showed that the respondents expect a 46% CAGR on average. At this anticipated rate, data will more than double every two years. The sheer volume of data, while not unprecedented, will strain both infrastructure and data management processes.

Second, surveyed organizations expect their data to be almost evenly distributed across multiple public clouds, with 26% of data, and on-premises private cloud, off-premises private cloud, and traditional on premises, each with 22% of data (the remainder is other/don’t know). When we compare these results with those of prior surveys, we believe this shows a trend away from traditional on premises to clouds of all types.

Third, data silos are significant and proliferating. Data from this survey showed that organizations average 23 separate data silos per organization (see Figure 1). Each silo must be separately managed with its own data policies, including security, protection, governance, and life-cycle management. This management effort often involves different tools and processes that require redundant purchases, training, and maintenance.